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Tom Chivers
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The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy: Superintelligent AI and the Geeks Who Are Trying to Save Humanity's Future Paperback – March 1, 2022

by Tom Chivers (Author)

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'A fascinating and delightfully written book about some very smart people who may not, or may, be about to transform humanity forever' JON RONSON

'Beautifully written, and with wonderful humour, this is a thrilling adventure story of our own future' LEWIS DARTNELL, author of THE KNOWLEDGE and ORIGINS

Are paperclips going to destroy life as we know it?
What can Mickey Mouse teach us about how to programme AI?
Could a more rational approach to life be what saves us all?

This is a book about about a community of people who are trying to think rationally about intelligence and what insight they can and can't give us about the future of the human race. It explains why these people are worried about an AI apocalypse, why they might be right, and why they might be wrong. It is a book about the cutting edge of our thinking on intelligence and rationality right now by the people who stay up all night worrying about it.

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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  4. Publication date
    March 1, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    5.13 x 0.75 x 7.88 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1474608795
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1474608794
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A fascinating and delightfully written book about some very smart people who may not, or may, be about to transform humanity forever

Artificial Intelligence, of a superhuman level, is coming. But how soon will it emerge, and how will it impact our world? Will it offer us salvation or bring apocalypse? In this utterly captivating book, Tom Chivers meets both the computer engineers working to build an AI and the Rationalists striving to prevent the worst. Beautifully written, and with wonderful humour, this is a thrilling adventure story of our own future―LEWIS DARTNELL, author of THE KNOWLEDGE and ORIGINS

Tom Chivers' meticulously researched book is intriguing, persuasive and eye-opening. His writing is warm and witty as he takes us on a surprisingly moving journey to decide - rationally - whether we really are playing Russian roulette with our future―HANNAH FRY, author of HELLO WORLD

This book is about so much more than AI. It's about what happens when an attempt at perfectly rational behaviour meets the messy complications of humanity and its achievements. In an increasingly digitised world, the outcome has something to say about us all. The brilliance of this book is the challenge it presents, because we can't examine the Rationalists without also examining ourselves. Tom Chivers is a fascinating and honest guide along that bumpy road―DR HELEN CZERSKI, author of THE STORM IN A TEACUP

Tom Chivers' book is like a self-help guide to stop panicking about technology for people who watched Terminator too many times when they were young. The content is completely gripping. But I think the thing I like best is the tone. He has this OK-lets-all-chill-out-and-look-at-this-rationally approach which makes me feel, for whole minutes at a time, that maybe things are going to be OK and we won't all die in hellfire―IAN DUNT, editor of politics.co.uk and author of BREXIT: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENS NOW?

In this informative account of his encounters with the Rationalists . . . Tom Chivers follows a formula pioneered by those chronicling Silicon Valley for Wired magazine in the 1990s. He writes movingly about his insecurities over what the future will bring, telling the head of CFAR, "I'm scared for my children" . . . It is a resonant moment'―TLS

An intellectual history of our times―THE TIMES

Excellent―THE BIG ISSUE

Brilliant―RAIA HADSELL, Research Director, DeepMind

About the Author

TOM CHIVERS is a science writer and author. He was awarded the Royal Statistical Society 'statistical excellence in journalism' award in 2018, and was highly commended for the same prize in 2017; he has also been shortlisted for the Association of British Science Writers award and a British Journalism Award in science writing, and won the American Psychological Society media award, all in 2017. His first book, THE AI DOES NOT HATE YOU, was declared one of the Times's science books of 2019. He worked for seven years at the Telegraph and three years at BuzzFeed before going freelance in 2018, and was once described by Sir Terry Pratchett as 'far too nice to be a journalist'.

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Tom Chivers

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